The use of cellular telephones or mobile stations has proliferated throughout the world. One of the primary reasons for this proliferation is the convenience associated with cellular telephone use.
Mobile stations are often used in constrained conditions, such as an automobile or in a crowd of people, by persons who are traveling and in a rush. In such places, it is often difficult to focus on manipulating the dial pad of the telephone. Moreover, if the user of the telephone does not remember the telephone number of the person the user wishes to dial, it is often difficult in such conditions to look up the telephone number in the user's telephone book. These are some of the disadvantages of the cellular telephones and cellular-telephone systems commonly in use today.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,107 to Clowes et al. discloses a telephone which stores names and corresponding telephone numbers. The telephone recognizes voice, and when a name which is stored by the telephone is spoken, the telephone dials the telephone number corresponding to that name spoken. Other similar inventions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,579 to Stogelx and U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,340 to Engelbeck et al.
The products disclosed in the above-cited references offer the advantage of storing telephone numbers such that the user of the telephone does not have to pause to look up the number of the party the user wishes to dial. Also, the products disclosed in the above-cited references offer the advantage of allowing the user to dial the desired party by speaking the party's name.
One of the disadvantages of the conventional products disclosed in the above-cited references is that the names and numbers are stored in the telephone. Storage of names and numbers in a cellular telephone does not easily allow users of other mobile stations to access the stored data. Moreover, such storage requires memory circuitry within the cellular telephone. Although developments in circuit integration have reduced the size of such circuitry considerably, such circuitry nonetheless requires some space within the cellular telephone and increases the weight of the telephone. It is desirable to manufacture cellular telephones with dimensions and weight as small as possible.
Another disadvantage of conventional products results from the volatility of memory. The mobility of cellular phones expose such phones to physical forces that can cause a loss of power or damage to the telephone's memory. When such products store names and numbers within the mobile station, such volatility risks loss or damage to that data.
Another disadvantage of conventional products is that such products do not perform network functions, such as setting up a conference call and interacting with network resources to find a desired telephone number.
Another disadvantage of conventional products that store names and numbers within a mobile station is that mobile stations do not have access to the data stored within other mobile stations. A person that has multiple conventional phones must program each phone individually.
Another disadvantage of conventional products is that mobile stations must allow the network platform to perform call control.
Another disadvantage of conventional products is that trombone trunking, generally requiring all calls to route into and out from the network platform, is relied upon.